Chapter I: Preface

The following work has but moderate claims, I fear, to public attention; and it would probably not have seen the light at all but for the urgent request of friends, who think better of it than the author does. It has no pretensions to any higher merit than that of being a plain narrative of the journey, and an impartial record of my own impressions of the people among whom I travelled.

Although some portions of the route have been eloquently described by Huc and others, I am not aware that any continuous account of the whole journey between the capitals of China and Russia has appeared in the English language for nearly a century and a half. Important changes have occurred in that period; and, if I may judge of others by myself, I suspect that many erroneous notions are afloat respecting the conditions of life in these far-off regions, and more especially in Siberia. Observation has modified my own pre-conceived opinions on many of the subjects touched on in the following pages, and I am not without a hope that they will be found to contain some information which may be new to many people in this country.

If I have indulged in irrelevant digressions, I can only say that I have limited myself to those reflections which naturally suggested themselves in the course of my travels; and the subjects I have given most prominence to are simply those which happened to be the most interesting to myself.

My thanks are due to various friends for useful hints, confirming and correcting my own observations; but I am especially indebted for some valuable notes on Siberia, its social phenomena, gold mines, &c., to Edwin E. Bishop, Esq., whose long residence in the country, and perfect acquaintance with the language and customs of the people, constitute him an authority on all matters connected with that part of the world.

22, BERKELEY SQUARE,
_October 28th, 1864_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

SHANGHAI TO TIENTSIN.
PAGE

John Bell--"Overland" routes--Peking a sealed book--Jesuits--
Opening of China--Chinese jealousy of Mongolia--Errors of
British policy--Their results--Preparations for journey--
Leave Shanghae--Yang-tse-kiang-- Changes in its channel--
Elevation of the delta--Chinese records of inundations--The
Nanzing--Shantung promontory in a fog--Chinese coasters--
Advantages of steam--Our fellow-passengers--Peiho river--
Intricate navigation--Sailors in China--Tientsin--New
settlement--Municipal council--Improvements--Trade--Beggars--
Health--Sand-storms--Gambling 1

CHAPTER II.

TIENTSIN TO PEKING.

Modes of travelling--Carts, horses, boats--Filthy banks of the
Peiho--Voyage to Tungchow--Our boat's crew--Chinese distances--
Traffic on the Peiho--Temple at Tungchow--Mercantile priests--
Ride to Peking--Millet--Eight-mile bridge--Resting place--
Tombs--Filial piety--Cemeteries--Old statues--Water
communication into Peking--Grain supply 23

CHAPTER III.

PEKING.

Walls of Peking--Dust and dirt--Street obstructions--The model
inn--Restaurant--Our boon companions--Peking customs--Rule of
thumb--British legation--Confucian temple--Kienloong's
pavilion--Lama temple--Mongol chants--Roman and Bhuddist
analogies--Mongols and Chinese--Hospitality of lay brother--
Observatory--Street cries--Temple of Heaven--Theatres--
European residents--Medical mission under Dr. Lockhart--
Chinese jealousy of Mongolia--Russian diplomacy--Reckoning
with our host--Ice--Paper-money 32

CHAPTER IV.

PEKING TO CHAN-KIA-KOW.

Return to Tungchow--Disappointment--Priest conciliated by
Russian language--Back to Peking--Negotiations--Ma-foo's
peculation--Chinese honesty and knavery--Loading the
caravan--Mule-litters--Leave Peking--Sha-ho--Cotton plant--
Nankow--Crowded inn--Difficult pass--Inner "great wall"--
Cha-tow--Chinese Mahommedans--Religious toleration--Christians
in disfavour--Change of scene--Hwai-lai--Ruins of bridge--Bed
of old river--Road traffic--Watch-towers--Chi-ming-i--Legend
of monastery--the Yang-ho--Pass--Shan-shui-pu--Coal--
Suen-wha-fu--Ride to Chan-kia-kow 56

CHAPTER V.

CHAN-KIA-KOW.

Arrival at Chan-kia-kow--Focus of Trade--Mixed population--
Wealth--Mongols--Russians--Name of Kalgan--Chinese
friends--Russian hospitality--Disappointment--Proposed
excursion to Bain-tolochoi--Camels at last procured--
Noetzli returns to Tientsin--The pass--Mountains--Great
Wall--The horse-fair--Dealers--Ox-carts--Transport of wood
from Urga--Shoeing smiths--Our Russian host arrives--The
"Samovar"--Tea-drinking in Russia--Change of temperature--
Elevation of Chan-kia-kow--Preparations for the desert--
Cabbages--Warm boots--Camels arrive--Leave Chan-kia-kow--
The pass--Superiority of mules, &c., over camels 72

CHAPTER VI.

MONGOLIA.

Leave China--Mishap in the pass--Steep ascent--Chinese
perseverance--Agricultural invasion--Our first encampment--
Cold night--Pastoral scene--Introduction to the Mongols--The
land of tents--Our conductors--Order of march--Mongol
chants--The lama--Slow travelling--Pony "Dolonor"--Night
travelling--Our Mongols' tent--Argols--Visitors--Mongol
instinct--Camels quick feeders--Sport--Antelopes--Lame
camels--Scant pastures--Endurance of Mongols--Disturbed
sleep--Optical illusions--"Yourt," Mongol tent--Domestic
arrangements--Etiquette--Mongol furniture--Sand-grouse--
Track-- Wind and rain--A wretched night--Comfortless
encampment--Camels breaking down--The camel seasons--No
population--No grass--Mingan 83

CHAPTER VII.

MONGOLIA--_continued_.

Visitors at Mingan--Trading--Scene with a drunken Mongol--
Good horsemen--Bad on foot--Knowledge of money--Runaway
pony--A polite shepherd--Gunshandak--Wild onions--Halt--
Expert butcher--Mongol sheep, extraordinary tails--A Mongol
feast--Effects of diet--Taste for fat explained--Mongol
fasts--Our cooking arrangements--Camel ailings--Maggots--
Rough treatment--Ponies falling off--Live in hopes--Dogs--
The harvest moon--Waiting for Kitat--Lamas and their
inhabitants--Resume the march--Meet caravan--Stony
roads--Disturbed sleep--Gurush--Negotiations at Kutul-usu--
Salt plains--Sporting lama--Ulan-Khada--Trees--Reach
Tsagan-tuguruk--Lamas and black men--Small temple--Musical
failure--Our new acquaintances--Horse-dealing--Greed of
Mongols--Fond of drink--A theft--The incantation--Kitat
returns--Camel lost--Vexatious delay--Start from
Tsagan-tuguruk 102

CHAPTER VIII.

MONGOLIA--_continued_.

Marshes--Camels dislike water--Chinese caravan--Travellers'
tales--Taryagi--Looking for cattle in the dark--
Butyn-tala--An addition to our party--Russian courier--
Water-fowl--Bad water--Kicking camel--Pass of Ulin-dhabha--
Mongols shifting quarters--Slip 'tween the cup and the
lip--Mountains--The north wind--Guntu-gulu--An accident--
Medical treatment--Protuberant ears--Marmots--Ice--Dark
night--Bain-ula--Living, not travelling--Charm of desert
life--Young pilgrim--Grand scenery--Steep descent--Obon--
Horror of evil spirits--Mongol and Chinese notions of
devils--Dread of rain--A wet encampment--Snow--The White
Mountains--The Bactrian camel--Capability of enduring
cold-- Job's comforters--Woods appear--The yak--Change
of fuel 122

CHAPTER IX.

URGA TO KIACHTA.

Maimachin in sight--A snow storm--Hasty encampment--Tolla in
flood--Delay--Intercourse with Mongols--The night
watches--Tellig's family--Rough night--Scene at the Tolla--
Crossing the river--the "Kitat" redivivus--His
hospitality--How Mongols clean their cups--Maimachin--The
Russian consulate--Russian ambition--Its prospects--The
Urga, or camp--Kuren--Fine situation--Buildings--
Horse-shoeing--Hawkers--The lamaseries--An ascetic--The
Lama-king--Relations between Chinese emperors and the Lama
power--Urga and Kara Korum--Historical associations--Prester
John and Genghis Khan--Leave Urga--Slippery paths--
More delays--The pass--A snow storm--Fine scenery--Rich
country--Another bugbear--The Boro valley--Cultivation--
Khara-gol--The pass--Lama courier--Shara-gol--Winter
quarters--The transmigration--Iro-gol--Forced march--
Kiachta in sight 141

CHAPTER X.

MONGOLS--HISTORICAL NOTES.

Early history of Huns--Wars with China--Dispersion--Appear
in Europe--Attila--His career--And death--Turks--Mixture
of races--Consanguinity of Huns and Mongols--Genghis--His
conquests--Divisions of his empire--Timour--A Mahommedan--
His wars--And cruelties--Baber--The Great Mogul in India--
Dispersion of tribes--Modern divisions of the Mongols--
Warlike habits--Religions--The causes of their success
in war considered--Their heroes--Their characters--And
military talents--Superstition--Use of omens--
Destructiveness and butcheries of the Huns and Mongols--
Antagonistic traits of character--Depraved moral
instincts--Necessity of culture to develop human
feelings--Flesh-eating not brutalising--Dehumanising
tendency of war--Military qualities of pastoral peoples--
Dormant enthusiasm of the Mongols 166